Ed Martin, the highly controversial Trump DOJ official, slammed Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) on Thursday after Politico published an article about Tillis’s ongoing threats to shoot down Trump appointees unless certain conditions are met.

Tillis previously said he would not vote to confirm a new Fed chairman unless the Trump DOJ dropped its probe into current Chair Jerome Powell. Tillis won that battle and, a few days after, insisted he would not approve a new attorney general if that nominee had excused the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol in past comments. Politico quoted Tillis in its article:

“I’ll scrub it when a nominee comes forward, and I’ll apply the Martin standard,” Tillis said of any pick to succeed ousted Attorney General Pam Bondi. “By the way, I don’t think Martin is employed by the DOJ anymore, either, is he?”

“Hey @SenThom Tillis: are you ok? Having memory issues for retirement? You called me on my cell phone recently to block a pardon for one of your constituents. Remember?” wrote Martin on X, sharing the quote.

Trump withdrew Martin as his nominee for U.S. attorney after GOP Senators, including Tillis, made it clear he wouldn’t get confirmed. Martin was recently rehired to the Justice Department as a pardon attorney.

Martin deleted his tweet, which was from his official DOJ account, but later posted again to his personal account. “Hey, @SenThomTillis: remember when you said Ashli Babbitt “deserved it”? In front of six witnesses, two of your staff. Deranged. Instead back to North Carolina, just go to Hell. Good riddance. #DrainTheSwamp. Btw, the TILLIS Standard: MAGA doesn’t forget losers!”

Tillis hit back at Martin, “Ed Martin is correct about one thing. The ‘constituent’ I opposed pardoning was Greg Lindberg, who was convicted of defrauding North Carolinians to the tune of billions of dollars and attempting to bribe public officials. Keep up the great work, Ed.”

Politico’s Kyle Cheney commented on the back and forth and noted that Martin was risking the ire of a key swing vote in the Senate for President Trump. “Wonder if other DOJ officials signed off on the pardon attorney pointedly attacking a Republican senator whose vote remains crucial on a variety of issues,” wondered Cheney on X.

Martin has long been a controversial figure and was an organizer of the “Stop the Steal” movement, which claimed the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.

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